Healing the Blind Man, by Yongsung Kim
Aaron looked down the row of tired homes, his mind mired in both wonder and uncertainty. The shear brightness of it all was overwhelming.
He looked at his hands.
I never could have known, he whispered to himself.
He studied the smooth creases on his palms, tracing the network of lines slowly with his fingers. Next he turned over his hands and carefully examining the sun stained, leathered brown skin. Solid black hairs grew out of an endless collection of tiny holes he never knew existed. He felt these looked like the hands of someone in his fifties rather than his twenties.
Then again, he wasn’t really sure what hands were supposed to look like.
Aaron didn’t notice two people approaching from the direction of the old homes. He heard the woman’s voice first.
“I am all but certain it is he,” she said with confidence.
“Then where is his stick?” An older man asked skeptically.
The woman didn’t answer. She stared curiously at Aaron as her husband continued.
“Yes, he would surely have his stick. And the bowl. A beggar doesn’t travel without what few possessions he has. No, I think he is like him, but not the man.” the man said, reassuring himself more than anything else.
Aaron watched as the older couple from the village stopped before him. They studied him as if he were an ancient artifact, the man even tilting his head to the side in disbelief. Aaron cleared his throat.
“I’m sorry. I uh… is this the street where Diana and Joshua live?” Aaron asked, his earnest brown eyes meeting theirs.
The older man’s mouth fell open. The woman’s lips formed a soft smile.
“Aaron! It truly is you!” she shouted in excitement.
Aaron nodded, “Yes, I uh, it is I. I’m sorry I don’t remember…”
“I knew it. It’s been years! And we seldom see you begging in the market any more, but I just knew it!” She said, hitting her husband on the arm as her eyes stayed fixed on the young man, “I will find your parents straight away!”
Her husband caught her on the shoulder, mouth still agape.
“Wait. But how could you…I don’t understand how you can… You can truly see, young man?” He asked Aaron, still holding his wife from leaving.
Aaron looked again to his hands, the homes, and back to the astonished couple. He thought about the unexpected miracle he had just experienced.
“Yes I can. It is by God’s glory, but, yes, I truly see.”
“By God’s glory?” The man stepped back, shaking his head half in unbridled surprise and lingering uncertainty, “How were your eyes opened? You must take us and show us where this happened and who worked such a mighty miracle!”
The young man looked back in the direction from whence he had come.
“If it wasn’t my own story, I’m not sure I’d believe it myself,” Aaron started, pausing briefly as if to reassure himself of his new reality, “And I’m not sure where He…”
The old man interrupted, “He? Who?”
"I honestly don’t…” Aaron trailed off, his mind wandering.
The older man turned back to his wife.
“Yes, dear, you must get his parents! But we must also take this young man to the Elders. They will surely want to hear of such a miracle.”
“But it’s the Sabbath,” the woman said, “perhaps it can wait.”
“Wait? Absolutely not! Sabbath or not, we must take him to them, they will know what to make of this.”
A few other neighbors were now approaching.
“Make of this?” The woman replied, incredulous, “What is there to make of this? He sees!”
The older man ignored her, instead taking Aaron by the arm, he started in the direction of the synagogue. He beckoned to a few of the nosy neighbor men to join him.
“Shalom friends!” the man said, “Come. We are going to the elders.” Then turning to Aaron reassuringly, “My young friend, my wife will bring your parents to meet us. You must tell us all about this wonder on the way!”
____
As a group of Pharisees came out to meet them, Aaron felt a sinking pit in his stomach. The day had stirred nearly every emotion inside of him.
“What is the meaning of this? And on the Sabbath no less.” An elder Pharisee spoke first.
“Shalom Sir,” the neighbor man said, bowing his head politely to the religious leaders, “I have brought to you a young man, a blind beggar.”
He looked to Aaron before quickly correcting himself, “A blind beggar no more. He sees! By God’s glory and the man who works miracles, he sees!”
Aaron noticed a distinct tension simmer amongst the religious group of men. They looked to one another and back to Aaron. A younger Pharisee stepped forward.
“I know this young man. He is indeed a beggar,” he said to his peers before turning his attention to Aaron, “Have you been feigning blindness for monetary reward?” He asked coldly, “or, if this alleged healing has come upon you, tell us how.”
Aaron looked nervously up at the Pharisee, and then back to the neighbor men and a growing crowd around them.
The older neighbor, who had just heard the story himself, nodded to Aaron encouragingly. Aaron took a deep breath.
“I uh… I never knew light,” he started, “Or rather I never could see light.” He swallowed nervously, “My whole life has been one of darkness.”
He stopped, closing his eyes as the flooding memories of the unending night in which he lived nearly drowned him.
“I… I yearned for sight, but it was not in God’s plan that it should be so. Well until…” he paused.
“Until?” the younger Pharisee questioned, agitated.
“Until Him.”
Whisperings and gasps could be heard among the growing audience around them. The various religious leaders’ eyes narrowed, looking to one another in seriousness. One of the seasoned Pharisees spoke up.
“Of whom do you speak?”
Aaron again shut his eyes, this time the dark slate was replaced with the memory of his recent miracle. Of a Healer. Of an extraordinary sensation that began in his eyes and ran through his entire existence. The treasured memory was now an inseparable part of who he was—as much a part of him as his beating heart.
“He…” his throat tightened once more, this time in a useless effort to hold back the tears beginning to form in his eyes as his gratitude swelled within him, “He came to me..."
His parents suddenly joined the crowd, positioning themselves just behind him, his father carefully holding his mother’s hand as they approached their son.
“Aaron? Aaron!” The tiny woman wore a long braid over her shoulder in a beautiful pattern of black and mostly gray hair.
She threw her arms around the once-missing young man’s neck, kissing his face and head as she wept. Aaron could hardly contain the relief, clinging to his mother as if he were just a lost toddler, his tears fell easily. His father wrapped his arms around them both, stroking his son’s head as they reunited.
The young Pharisee interrupted.
“Pardon us, please, but this young man’s story must be verified!” Raising his arms to quiet the the incredulous and noisy crowd.
The older neighbor spoke up.
“Aaron, you must tell them exactly what you told us. Do not hold back, boy.”
Aaron wiped his face with his sleeve as he stood with his parents. His mother now cradled his hand tightly in her own. He looked to his parents, then to the neighbor, and finally to the religious leaders.
“A man that is called Jesus,” his words were immediately interrupted by an eruption of excited conversations from every direction. Even the Pharisees began speaking all at once, eyes widened, most of them clearly upset at the mention of the name. Aaron waited for things to begin to quiet before continuing.
“He made clay, and anointed my eyes. He said unto me,” the feelings of his heart again pooled in his eyes, threatening to spill. He softly continued, “He said unto me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash’, ” he turned to his parents, his father’s tears matched his own.
“And I went and washed, and I received sight.”
The crowd erupted. The Pharisees clamored amongst themselves. Finally the brazen young Pharisee called out above the chaos.
“Well then, we must know when this alleged miracle was carried out!” He demanded.
Slowly the noise came to a standstill as the obvious answer and its many traditions settled over them like a thick cloud.
“It’s the Sabbath!” Declared a shrill voice among the crowd.
Many hollered in their agreement and disapproval. Others studied Aaron’s face, unable to look away.
“What say ye?” The young Pharisee asked sharply.
Aaron thought for a moment, then simply stated, “Sir, Sabbath or no Sabbath, this man put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.”
A stout, elderly pharisee stepped forward slowly, raising his hand as he spoke.
“This man you speak of,” he declared accusingly, scanning his eyes over the gathered crowd, “This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day.”
A murmur crawled through the restless witnesses. Most of them had already chosen a side, and only a few remained uncertain.
The neighbor woman who accompanied Aaron’s parents called out boldly, “How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?”
The young pharisee cleared his throat, steadying himself before taking the lead once more. He turned to Aaron, asking loudly, “What sayest thou of him, young man? He opened your eyes, did he not?”
This time Aaron did not hesitate, “He is a prophet.”
Many in the crowd called out their disapproval.
One surly old man yelled in disdain, “He was never without sight! He has lied to all of us, and he is finally tired of feigning his so called blindness!”
Many shouted in approval. The older neighbor man spoke over the crowd. “That is a bold accusation, sir! Ask his parents! Are they not here among us?”
Aaron’s father stepped protectively in front of his wife, speaking calmly to the Pharisees and all who were near enough to hear it.
“We know that this is our son,” he looked to Aaron, his eyes smiling gently, then back to the Pharisees, “And we know that he was born blind. But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not.”
He nodded to Aaron proudly, as if to reaffirm what the young man had already stated. The father’s heart swelled with love for his son. Still, he and his wife carried the ever-present fear of being ostracized by the religious leaders and their Jewish community.
“He is grown. He shall speak for himself,” the father finished.
Sensing a shift in the crowd in favor of the young man and the preacher called Jesus, one of the seasoned Pharisees stepped forward, speaking in a softer, understanding tone.
“Young man, clearly you have experienced a miracle, for which you are undoubtedly grateful. We have heard your parents speak of your blindness. This must be a special day for you, yes?”
Aaron squeezed his mother’s hand, unsure what the man was getting at. The Pharisee continued:
“We must all return to our Sabbath observations. You and your family surely have much to celebrate, albeit while upholding the day’s traditions,” he gestured to his peers, who nodded in approval.
“So, before we part, give God the praise,” he said, gesturing to the crowd as they listened in, “we know that this man of whom you speak is a sinner.”
The crowd was suddenly silent. All the eyes settled on Aaron, anxious for his reply. Aaron looked the experienced pharisee directly in the eyes.
“Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know,” He declared with a newfound confidence, “Whereas I was blind, now I see.”
The Pharisees tussled about for their shot at the no-longer-homeless, and no-longer-blind young man who now commanded the crowd’s attention. The questioning started from scratch once more—repeating the questions as if he hadn’t understood them, or at least in hopes that it would bring about a different answer for the people to carry home with them.
Aaron thought of Jesus. He stepped forward, his voice louder than at any point before:
“I have told you already, and ye did not hear. Wherefore, would ye hear it again?”
The pharisees eyes narrowed in on him in disdain. Aaron continued with a line that seemed to undo the religious leaders’ poised facades.
“Will ye also be his disciples?”
The men erupted.
“We are Moses’ disciples!”
“Thou art his disciple!”
“We know not from whence this sinner is!”
Aaron calmly replied, “Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened my eyes.”
The men appeared taken aback by Aaron’s boldness, he continued:
“We know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.”
Aaron looked to his parents, their eyes shone in pride. He stepped back to stand between them before finishing:
“If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. And here I stand before you. I once was blind, but now I see!”
Chaos erupted once more. The Pharisees called over the crowd:
“Thou art a sinner!”
“Indeed, born in sins!”
“And this sinner looks to teach us!”
And with that, they cast Aaron out, his parents alongside him. The crowd continued clamoring behind them.
“Come my son,” his dad said, putting his arm around Aaron’s shoulder, “Let’s take the long way home.” The three of them walked slowly, thrilled to catch up on lost time.
____
Nearly two hours later, just outside the neighborhood, Aaron and his parents stood in the very same place where his day began. He laughed as he looked to his hands once more.
“What a day," he said, shaking his head as the reality of it all settled over him.
Suddenly, the family heard footsteps approaching from behind. They turned at once to see four men walking toward them. A gentle man in front immediately commanded their attention. Their son didn’t have to say a word. His parents knew.
Aaron felt an overwhelming sense of peace and love gather within him. He stepped toward Jesus before bowing his head humbly in a holy and complete expression of gratitude.
Jesus, Who heard they had been cast out, smiled at each of them before asking the young man a simple and profound question.
“Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” He asked Aaron.
Aaron’s heart pounded inside his chest threatening to burst, he felt within him that this man was surely a prophet of God. Or was it more? His tender emotions choked him, he replied in barely a whisper.
“Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?”
Jesus extended His hand and rested it on Aaron’s shoulder.
“Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.”
Aaron fell to his knees, reaching for the Healer’s feet in humble worship. “Lord, I believe!”
His parents likewise bowed in adoration. For it wasn’t only sight that returned on this day, but their very son. Jesus beckoned them to stand, teaching:
“I am come into this world, that they which see not, might see.”
Their hearts burned within them. Joy washed over them.
It was there they stood as the Son of God expounded unto them of His divine mission, as He invited them to follow Him.
It was a Sabbath they would never forget.
_____
Written by Benjamin Hanks, based on the writing found in John 9.
John 9
1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?
9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.
10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.
12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.
13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.
14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. 15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.
16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.
17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.
18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.
19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?
20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:
21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.
22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.
24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.
25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.
26 Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? 27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?
28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. 30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.
34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. 38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
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